Just a Little Different
by Huntress of Sacred Dreams
Summary: Being different was never a crime, until it broke a sacred law passed down from the first lions. Being born different, raised different and forced to be something you're not can change you, just not in a good way. "He will be Vita, my son, the King of War."
1. Chapter 1

Many seasons have passed since the reign of King Simba and his kin. Many lions have come and gone with the passing of each season. Territories have been extended, lost, shared and fought over. Prey has come and gone, leaving prides to starve in the thick of the dry season. But through all this hardship one pride has managed to survive and flourish despite the hard times. The pride of the Prideland's remains ever strong under the just rule of King Hodari and Queen Laini.

The season in spring and new life is flourishing. Prey has returned, water is plentiful and the Pridelands are bright with soft green grass with beautiful flowers blooming in the light spring breeze. A hunting party made of up of six lionesses, all sleek and well muscled, were making their way silently towards a grazing herd of zebra. The zebra milled around aimlessly, all their concentration focused on the grass they were chomping on in the late afternoon sun. Pale hues of blue filled the sky, tainted every now and again by a pure white cloud.

Each lioness had their own place in the hunt and each had to play their part, or the hunt would fall to pieces. Their intent concentration was focused solely on the grazing zebra, so fiercely that they failed to see or scent the lion shaped figures prowling silently closer, their eyes narrowed and filled with blood lust. Two males could be clearly seen, their thick manes blowing gently in the breeze, yet it was a thickset female that lead them. The lion shaped figures branched out, entrapping the oblivious hunting lionesses in a circle. And then the plan was set into motion.

One lioness snarled loudly and then zebra scattered, terrified at the thought of being torn apart by the sharp claws of a hungry lion. The hunting lionesses cried in irritation and set about chasing down the zebra they had been focused on, an elderly – but big – male. But they were too late and too slow. No zebra were left for them to catch. All that was left was the circle of hidden lions waiting to strike out at them.

"Come now," the lead huntress ordered, green eyes narrowed in irritation. "We might as well start searching for another herd. This one is long gone." Still they remained anonymous to the ambush waiting to be sprung upon them from the tall grass.

That was until the thickset lioness stood and presented herself to the hunting party, earning herself growls and snarls of pure hatred. Again the lead huntress spoke, sharp face contorted into a snarl of anger. "Why have you returned to these lands, Uuaji?"

Uuaji, mud-coloured muzzle pulled up in a crooked smile, flicked her tail and the rest of her ambush showed themselves. Fear spiked the air as the hunters realised they had become the hunted by their own kind. They had fallen into an ambush a cub could have created for a game. "To reclaim what should have been mine a long time ago, sister," Uuaji responded.

"These lands were never yours to have in the first place!" the lead huntress roared. "As first born that birth right went to me, such is the tradition that has been in place for generations. You should respect this tradition as the daughter of the king!"

A snarl twisted Uuaji's crooked smile, "Laini, you have always been one to respect the traditions." She stalked closer, parading around the trapped hunters like she ruled over them. "Why don't you bend them a little? Break of your charade of a marriage to Hodari for a start. All of us can see that you don't _really _love him; you're just faking it to get your claws on the title of Queen. Go on, admit it?"

By now all the eyes of the gathered lions had been focused on Laini as she faced off to her sister once again. Ears had perked up at the mention of the King and his relationship with the Queen, as many speculated that the real reason Uuaji was here today was to kill Laini, become Queen and take Hodari as her mate. Others just assumed she just wanted power. "I love Hodari more than any other lion within the boundaries of the Prideland's. You will not be taking my title, my life or my mate today for we will all fight back. A land under your rule would be a land tainted by murder, deceit and lies. That is a land no creature, prey or predator, would want to live in."

Uuaji roared angrily and launched herself forwards with a loud cry of, "Attack!" All of her followers threw themselves at the terrified lionesses, claws outstretched and fangs bared. Battle broke out as each lion fighting for dignity and their lives. Laini and Uuaji were grappling together, claws biting into flesh. Blood oozed freely from ragged wounds, staining their fur red. Angry snarls ripped from their throats as the swatted each other with sharp claws.

Taunts were thrown at one-an-another just as easily as water slides over the rocks of the river bed. The battle, as violent as it seemed, did not last all that long as the arrival of the King and the rest of the lionesses chased of many of Uuaji's followers until only the two big males and Uuaji herself were left. Hodari and Furaha, the closest friend of the King, attacked the males with slashing claws. Before long one was dead and the other was on the border. Uuaji, now lying on her side with blood pooling around her, breathed heavily, her last breaths coming out in ragged gasps. But her ragged gasps formed words that Laini had to lean in to hear.

"Please, think of me no longer as a lion who wanted nothing more than power, think of me as your sister when I ask you this. Find my daughter, she's hiding not too far from here, and take care of her. Please?" And then she shuddered, took a long peaceful breath and died.

The battle was over but at a heavy cost. Only three of the six lions that had been on the hunting party remained alive with one teetering on the edge of death, its icy jaws waiting to claim her. But by the power of the Kings that reside in the everlasting sky, she survived and the only reminder of that fateful day when the Queen of the Prideland's nearly lost her life to the claws of her sister was in the form of a tiny light mud-coloured she-cub with beautiful purple eyes. The cub simply known as the name she uttered whilst grasped in the gentle jaws of the Queen.

Vita.

* * *

**AN: Well, hello! I hope you enjoyed the prolouge to this story. Vague, I know, but all will be explained in time. First things first before you go any further into this story (or until I update again..) this story will contain love between two lionesses. If you don't like then please stop reading. I don't want to have to deal with flipping hate mail. However there is a valid reason for the love. **

**Don't like don't go any futher. You have been warned. **

**-Hunter**


	2. Chapter 2

"Hey, Vita, come play!" Bright beams of sunshine trickled down on the five scruffy looking adolescents as they stood in green grass that came up higher than their shoulders. From the ground they were near invisible, only their blinking eyes gave them away. Amused smiles quirked the corners of their muzzles as they looked down at the light mud-coloured adolescent that was curled up comfortably in a patch of squished down grass. "Get up, sleepy head! Hide and Seek is always more fun when you play!"

Vita blinked sleepily and yawned, opening her purple coloured eyes to stare into the red pair that belonged to Amani, the princess. "I'm awake! Why couldn't you have let me sleep longer? I was having a nice dream about chasing butterflies!"

The other adolescents laughed loudly and poked Vita until she hauled herself to her paws and stood glaring at them, "Okay. I'm up so we better start playing Hide and Seek before I fall back asleep again!"

Amani giggled and flicked Vita with her tail, earning herself an irritated growl in return, "Jasiri said he'd be it when he lost to Moyo," she winked at her betrothed and he purred back, patchy dark red mane ruffling slightly. Groans range out as Moyo pushed his way past Jasiri, a bored expression covering his face.

"How about we stop flirting and actually play the game?" he muttered. The others nodded their agreement and all five adolescents trotted out of the long grass so that they could see each other more easily. Vita had her eyes focused on the back of Amani's head as the Princess flirted bravely with her betrothed. Jealousy seethed beneath her skin but then she shook her head vigorously and blushed a bit. Such thoughts about a lioness were not ones that were pleasant.

When she had slipped into thought, Vita had failed to notice Moyo sidling up to her side. He nudged her and she gasped, nearly tripping over a rock in the process. "What you thinking about?" he purred.

Vita nearly cuffed him over the head for being so stupid, "Nothing. So, you beat Jasiri? How'd you manage that? He's bigger than you, not to mention fatter."

"Hey! I heard that!" Jasiri called back. Giggles of amusement rang out as Amani flashed Vita a smirk. Before Moyo could respond Angani and Kamili shot forwards. The youngest adolescents brought the group to a stop with their loud shouts.

"How about we start from here?" Angani shouted, blue eyes glinting in the sunlight. Kamili nodded beside her, the two unlikely sisters sharing amused glances.

The others agreed and Vita sat down with her eyes closed. She counted loudly so that the others could hear her and when she reached twenty she opened her eyes and set about searching for her hidden friends. Their trails were easy enough to follow by scent but the long bang of fur that covered one eye made it hard to see the places they might be hiding. Unless the lion she was stalking was Amani. The Princess had a habit of not being able to hide very well. This time it was Amani's orange tail that was protruding out from behind a large boulder. It amused Vita greatly, to the extent that she was almost laughing. Amani really did have trouble hiding. _Or maybe she does it on purpose…_ a small voice in the back of her head murmured.

Vita snorted, leapt on top of the boulder and looked down at Amani with a smirk on her face. "Found ya'," she purred, jumping down to land beside Amani. The light orange lioness groaned loudly and rolled onto her belly so that she could look Vita in the eyes. Vita had to suck in a deep breath; Amani was very beautiful with her black lines that extended out from the corners of her eyes.

"I don't hide very well, do I?" Amani giggled, completely oblivious to her friend's state of breathlessness. "Well I guess I'm it next round once we find the others!" She rose to her paws and then stared at Vita, a hidden emotion flitting across her face. "You okay, Vita? You look a little pale.."

Vita tossed her long lock of brown fur off of her eye so that she could see Amani properly, "I-I'm fine, and yeah, you're it next round." She purred and flicked Amani with her tail tip. "Maybe you should take some hiding lessons from one of the others?" she offered.

The Princess narrowed her eyes in mock annoyance before pouncing on Vita with an amused purr. "I may need hiding lessons," Amani giggled moments later after she pinned Vita, "but at least I don't need fighting lessons." The two adolescents laughed and rose to their paws, breathing heavily from their tussle.

"We better start looking for the others. Jasiri's bound to be hiding in some ridiculous place that will take us an age to find," Vita muttered, tossing Amani a smirk as she payed out the Princess's betrothed. She was surprised to find Amani closer than usual and even more surprised when the light orange lioness brushed her muzzle against hers. Vita came to a sudden stop to stare at Amani with wide eyes.

Amani blushed deeply and focused her eyes on her lighter orange paws. "Sorry," she mumbled. "I don't know what came over me." There was a moment of silence that followed and Vita mentally clawed herself for not saying something. And then Amani spoke up again, "I'll, um, head this way and search for the others. See you soon." Then, before Vita could say a word, the Princess was rushing away.

_It's not right, _the voice whispered again, _you need to let it go. She is betrothed to a male, why would she leave him for a female? Besides, in the Prideland's a relationship between two lionesses is taboo. You could be exiled. Let it go. _Despite the truth behind the words, Vita couldn't help but ignore them.

**-/000\-**

A little while had passed but not too long as the sun was still perched high in the sky, staring down at the peaceful animals of the savannah. Vita wandered silently alongside Jasiri, Moyo and Angani. She'd found them one after another, that was until she came across Moyo and Angani hiding together underneath a thorn bush. She'd winked at them but said no more as she knew how it felt to be in love.

As the four lions walked, the others talking loudly amongst each other, Vita was given the chance to ponder the feelings she felt for Amani and the reason for why she felt them in the first place. It had all begun with her mother, Uuaji and the lionesses want for a son…

_"You have given birth to a beautiful baby girl," the medicine lioness purred, nuzzling the mud-coloured cub closer to its mother. But the mother merely snarled at it and pushed the cub away. A baby girl was the last thing Uuaji wanted, a weak, useless, whining baby girl. All Uuaji saw in this cub was a curse instead of a miracle. _

_"I do not want her," Uuaji spat. "Take it away." _

_The medicine lioness gazed at her leader with frightened eyes, unable to fathom why a mother would want to abandon her cub just because it was a female. "Perhaps you could train it to believe it was a male," the medicine lioness murmured. "She may not look like a male, but she could act like one." _

_Uuaji raised her head to stare at the lioness, "Kupona, you of all lions should know that you should never try and persuade me," Uuaji warned, gesturing to the long, jagged scar running along Kupona's shoulder. "But your idea just might work. Bring my _son _back to me." _

_Kupona, with a tiny smile, reached over and scooped the tiny cub up before placing it beside her leader. "What do you plan on naming her?"_

_"Him, Kupona. It is a male and he shall be named Vita." Uuaji stared down at her light mud coloured cub with narrowed eyes. A plan was already beginning to form in her mind of how this cub would help her take over the Prideland's and slaughter her sister. She grinned a toothy smile. "My Vita." _

_A month was all it took for Uuaji to start moulding Vita into the perfect male assassin. Despite the cub's young age and fragile body, her mother pushed her harder than most of her other pride members. But it still wasn't enough to impress Uuaji and she began to lose hope in her 'son'. It didn't help that Vita began to show interest in the male cubs that were her age. _

_One morning, when the sun was barely up, Uuaji took Vita away from where the rest of her pride was sleeping. The two lions, young and old, walked until they reached the top of a large cliff that overlooked the broad expanse of green and orange grass that belonged to the Prideland's. It was there that Uuaji stopped, sat down and looked at Vita with emotionless eyes. All Vita could think about was her mother throwing her off the cliff because she wasn't strong enough. _

_"My son," Uuaji began. "I have noticed many things recently, things that I am not pleased with. Would you like to hazard a guess as to what things I am talking about?"_

_Vita flattened herself closer to the ground, terrified at the thought of not pleasing her mother. "I, uh, I haven't been training hard enough?" she squeaked, voice still a little rusty because of her young age. _

_"No. You have been training well; I am pleased with you for that. However, you have been taking an interest in the male cubs your age, have you not?" _

_"Yes I have, mother. Is there anything wrong with that? Aren't I allowed to take a mate when I am older?" Vita replied, confused by her mother. She knew that mother had always wanted a boy but got her instead and she also knew that mother wanted her to act like a male, fight like a male, be a male. But what was wrong with taking a mate that was male if she was female?_

_Uuaji swiped at Vita, sending the cub tumbling sideways with a sharp cry of pain. Blood bubbled out from the three claw marks across her cheek and Vita whimpered. "You are a male! Therefore you cannot take a male mate! You should know this my son, have I not taught you well enough? If you are to take any mate then it must be female, otherwise you will be ridiculed for having a mate of the same gender as you. Understand?" _

_"But!" Vita tried to protest, only to be clawed again. This time the sharp blow brought her close to the cliff edge, so close that her hind paws were dangling over the edge. "I understand. I must take a lioness for my mate. If I don't then I have failed you and I don't want to fail you. I love you, mother."_

_The large lioness softened a little and swept her cub close to her with her tail. She nuzzled Vita, "And I love you too, my Vita. Promise me you will take a lioness for a mate even if I am not here to watch over you, it would make me so very proud to look down at you from the stars and see you happily married to a lioness. Promise?"_

_Vita smiled and licked her mother on the cheek, "I promise, mother. You'll be proud of me someday, I know you will! Can we go back now? I promised Zuri I'd play with her. She's a lioness!" _

_"Yes, we can go back now. You can play with Zuri for as long as you want but you cannot take her as your mate. I want you to take a powerful lioness as your mate, one that will take you far and maybe make you into a king! Then once you are king you can do whatever you please, take however many mates you want and be the most powerful lion throughout all of the lands!" Uuaji crowed, eyes lighting up at the thought of her son becoming the most powerful lion. She smiled. Her plan would work perfectly, like it always did. All she had to do was take down her sister; wage wars on the Prideland's and somehow kill the king. _

_"King!" Vita purred. "Oh how I'd love to be king!" _

_The cub's enthusiasm only served to strengthen Uuaji. Tomorrow she would attack her sister and then return to train Vita some more. Another idea came to mind. Vita would come to the battle and watch from afar, learning how real battles work. _

_But Uuaji never did return. _

"Hey, sleepy head!" Moyo joked, butting his head into Vita's shoulder. His nose lingered there a little longer than it should have but Vita did not spit at him like she used to when one of the males would touch her. "Amani's up ahead, she's got Angani with her!"

Vita snapped her head up to see Amani trotting towards her. _She's beautiful, so very beautiful. If only she could be mine and not be Jasiri's! _Her whole body wanted to grab Amani and hold her forever but she couldn't do that. She sighed quietly; saddened at the thought of watching Amani and Jasiri marry.

By the time Amani and Angani had reached the others they were panting heavily, fur damp with sweat. The others pulled faces, sneered and then laughed at the state of the two adolescent lionesses. Jasiri, after much hesitation, eventually nuzzled his betrothed. He didn't notice but Vita did. She noticed how Amani almost pulled away but then stopped herself. She always noticed the small webs that knotted the relationships of the pride together.

She knew Moyo liked her, but she didn't feel anything for him in return. Angani wanted Jasiri so the relationship between her and Amani had dwindled over the months until now when they could barely stand being alone. Kamili liked any male that looked at her, both young and old. Vita had a hunch that she'd end up leaving the pride to chase her many lovers.

Not only had she figured out the relationships amongst the adolescents but she had also worked out why Hodari had been acting so strange around Laini recently. It hadn't taken Vita long to work out what was going on. All it had taken was a bit of sneaking around. She'd followed him one night when he had snuck out. The King had run all the way till he reached the eastern border, the one that bordered the Rainforest and the Shadow Pride. It was there that Vita watched as Hodari met up with a pretty dark brown lioness that was a lot prettier than Laini.

"Have you nodded off again, Vita?" Moyo joked earning himself a laugh from the others. "Jasiri asked who you found first!"

"Oh. Sorry, just got lost in thought. I found Amani first. Someone really needs to give her hiding lessons!" Vita joked. Amani giggled whilst the others roared with laughter.

The princess rolled her eyes and cuffed her betrothed sharply over the head, "Vita said she'd give me some lessons later on today so next time we play I won't be so bad at it!" The comment made Vita's heart skip a little. So Amani was serious about having lessons! Maybe there was hope after all…_Oh shut up! She only wants hiding lessons! _

Vita grumbled something under her breath before she straightened up, "Yeah. I'll have her hiding better than I do in a few days! Go on, Amani. You better start counting. Kamili looks like she's ready to explode."

It was true. The youngest of the adolescents was quivering excitedly, her whiskers twitching so fast they were nothing but a blur. She was easily the most excitable out of the entire group. "Okay, I'll start counting!" Amani hissed and buried her head in her paws. From within her paws came a muffled voice, "One. Two. Three."

The others scattered pretty quick leaving Vita alone with Amani's oblivious form. "I know you're still there, Vita. You'd better start running before I stop counting and catch you!"

"How do you know I don't want to be caught?" The words were out of Vita's mouth before she could even stop herself. Immediately she regretted them but some small part of her hoped that Amani would jump up and brush her muzzle against Vita's.

A moment of silence past before Amani spoke again. "Vita, I'll talk to you later whilst you're teaching me to hide, okay? Now go hide."

"Oh…okay," Vita whispered and then retreated away, slinking off into a patch of long grass. The long grass came to an abrupt end, plunging Vita into bright sunlight. It was warm on her back but she didn't let that bother her, she was too busy searching for a good hiding spot that would keep her hidden from the others. Her eyes were narrowed against the harsh sunlight and then she found her hiding spot. It was just beyond a rather large clump of thorn bushes ringed by brown grass that obviously hadn't had enough water or sunlight.

The place Vita had spotted was a twisted, dead – but still standing – tree. From where she stood Vita could see a small hole in the trunk. It was perfect. But time was running out and Vita bolted towards the tree. Her muscles began to protest three quarters of the way but she refused to stop running until she had reached the safety of the dead tree. The hole was a bit smaller than she had expected and she had to claw some of the dead bark away before she could crawl into the hole. Once inside the hollowed out trunk Vita curled up in a small ball and tossed her tail over her nose. She figured that if she was going to be in here for a while then she could at least me comfortable.

Time passed and the sky began to grow paler and darker. Vita grumbled quietly under her breath, muttering about how slow the others were. If she had of been it she would have found most of them by now. There was a moment when Vita wandered whether they had purposely left her alone but then she remembered that they were her friends.

More time passed and Vita decided that it was time to leave the hollow tree. It was starting to get a little cramped. So she wriggled out and after many minutes of hisses and snarls, Vita was finally out of the tree. She stretched luxuriously, sighing as her back cracked loudly. She really had been in that tree for ages. Her eyes were drawn to the place where she had last seen Amani and wasn't surprised when she saw Moyo and Kamili sitting there. A funny feeling stirred in her stomach as she watched Kamili lean against Moyo. It felt like jealousy but Vita wasn't all that sure.

A soft breeze blew across Vita's ears, carrying with it the smallest slivers of a voice. It was a voice Vita hadn't heard for ages. _"Promise me you will take a lioness for a mate even if I am not here to watch over you, it would make me so very proud to look down at you from the stars and see you happily married to a lioness. Promise?" _

Vita smiled to herself, "I promise, mother." The mud coloured adolescent watched as Amani appeared beside Moyo. "I'll make you proud."

* * *

**AN: History lessons are fun. Uuaji sounded like a fun lion to hang around with. Hope you enjoyed. Review if you feel like it. **

**-Hunter**


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